Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/51

 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE him, fixing the limit of the French empire at the Rhine, and hostilities recommenced. From Aug. 24 to 27 a battle raged around the city of Dresden, with the preponderance of success on the side of the French ; but, owing to the want of cavalry, Napoleon was unable to de- rive from it all the advantages for which he looked. The greater part of the month of September was passed in a desultory warfare, the French armies on the whole losing ground, and experiencing constant desertions on the part of their German allies. It was no longer merely the governments who were opposing Napoleon, but the people ; and the prestige of popular sympathy, which had carried him along, even in the midst of nominal enemies, was be- ginning to fail. To the German masses the war had become a war of independenca. (For a more detailed history of the great campaigns of 1813-'14, see BLUOHEB.) On Oct. 16 the battle opened at Leipsic, and a gallant struggle on the part of the French showed that their energies were still fresh, and the genius of their leader unimpaired. The 17th was a day of anxious suspense and rapid preparation. On the 18th the carnage was renewed, and Napo- leon discovered that it would be necessary to retire beyond the Rhine. The morning of the 19th saw the dejected lines of the French slow- ly filing out of the city, when the allies forced their way into it, and by blowing up a bridge committed a sad havoc, and made some 25,000 prisoners. Thus, after an obstinate resistance of three days, Napoleon was compelled to re- treat a movement for which, prodigious as his genius was in assault and defence, he seemed to have but little capacity. As at Moscow, and later at Waterloo, his backward march was worse than a battle lost. Though he cut his way bravely through the Bavarians, his late friends, at Hanau (Oct. 30), yet when he crossed the Rhino but 80,000 remained of all his splen- did army. He reached Paris Nov. 9, to en- counter a strong feeling of dissatisfaction on the part of his own countrymen. The legislative body expressed a desire for peace, and could only be answered by a guard of soldiers. Yet, with a fertility of resource and a genius for combination which were almost miraculous, Napoleon was prepared by the end of January, 1814, to enter upon another campaign, which is called the campaign of France. Prussia, Russia, and Austria were already on her east- ern borders ; Wellington had crossed the Py- renees, and had laid siege to Bayonne ; Ber- nadotte, crown prince of Sweden and late com- panion of the emperor, was coming down from the north at the head of 100,000 troops; and Murat, king of Naples, Napoleon's own brother- in-law, had entered into a secret treaty with Austria for the expulsion of the French from Italy. Thus surrounded on all sides by enemies, with his disposable force shattered and broken, the indomitable emperor still repulsed their at- tacks, and still continued to astonish Europe with dazzling achievements. But numbers as well as moral power were now against him ; the allies succeeded in reaching the exterior de- fences of Paris ; the capital, which for so many years had dictated law to all other capitals, was obliged to capitulate ; and on March 31 Alexan- der and his allies entered Paris amid the accla- mations of the people. The senate, formerly his too servicable instrument, declared that " by arbitrary acts and violations of the constitu- tion," Napoleon had forfeited the throne, and absolved all Frenchmen from their allegiance. His own generals insisted that he ought to ab- dicate, and on April 11 he signed his surrender of power. He was allowed the sovereignty of the island of Elba, with a revenue of 6,000,000 francs ; and after taking leave of his army at Fontainebleau, he departed for his new abode. On May 4 he landed from the British frigate Un- daunted, at Porto Ferrajo ; and Louis XVIII. resumed the seat of his ancestors. Ten months later, invited by a conspiracy of old republicans, joined to the Bonapartists, Napoleon, who had not ceased to watch and foment the intrigues of Paris, was secretly returning to France. Escap- ing from Elba, Feb. 26, 1815, he landed at Can- nes, not far from Frejus, March 1, with an escort composed of about 1,000 of his old guard. As soon as his arrival was known, parts of the army, sent against him under Colonel Labe- doySre and Marshal Ney, joined his cause ; and he made a triumphal progress toward Paris. Europe was overwhelmed with surprise at the suddenness of the apparition. On March 20, and before a shot was fired, Louis XVIII. was driv- en from the throne to which he had just been restored by the combined armies of the world. The congress of Vienna, still in session, heard the news with astonishment, and instantly con- certed a plan for conjoint resistance. The armies resumed their march toward the French frontier. Napoleon, hastily reorganizing the government, but on a basis more liberal than that of the empire, and having in vain attempt- ed to open negotiations for peace, advanced to the encounter. Drained as France was by a long series of desolating conquests, upward of 200,000 men went forward to meet more than double that number of enemies. On June 15 Napoleon had crossed the Belgian frontier with 124,000 men ; the next day he defeated the Prussians under Blucher, at Ligny ; and at the same tune he sent Ney against the English army at Quatre-Bras, where he was checked by Wellington. On the morning of the 17th the latter fell back upon Waterloo, and on the 18th the final battle was fought. (See WATER- LOO.) The French were thoroughly dispersed, and the great captain hurried back to Paris. Once more the capital was occupied by foreign troops, and now also stripped of the treasures of foreign art with which the conqueror had adorned it ; a war which had lasted for 23 years was closed ; the legislature demanded a second abdication ; on June 22, just 100 days after his resumption of power, the second abdication was signed ; and Napoleon was required to em-